Behind a 14-hit attack, the Richmond Flying Squirrels held off the Erie SeaWolves for a 7-6 win on Monday night at UPMC Park.
The Flying Squirrels (49-83, 26-39) snapped their four-game losing streak. The SeaWolves (74-57, 42-22) remain in a tie for first place in the Western Division standings with Bowie with one week remaining in the regular season.
The Flying Squirrels stormed ahead with four runs in the top of the sixth inning. Joey Bart laced an RBI double to bring home Bryce Johnson and later scored on a double by Heliot Ramos to give Richmond a 3-2 lead.
Later in the frame, Zach Houchins and Gio Brusa hit back-to-back RBI singles off Trent Szkutnik (Loss, 1-3) to extend the advantage to 5-2.
Facing reliever Garrett Williams in the bottom of the sixth, Cam Gibson brought in a run with a ground-rule double and Kody Eaves followed with a run-scoring ground out to trim the lead to 5-4. Richmond brought in Caleb Simpson with runners on first and third, and he struck out two batters to escape the inning.
In the top of the seventh facing Alex Lange, Jalen Miller and Bart each singled with one out. Ramos drove them both in to score with a two-run double, pushing the lead to 7-4.
Erie’s Kade Scivique led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer and Eaves brought in a run with a groundout to close to gap back to one run at 7-6.
Richmond reliever Jamie Callahan (Save, 1) stranded a runner on in the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.
The SeaWolves opened the scoring in the second inning. With two outs, Gibson hit an RBI single to score Josh Lester.
In the top of the third, Houchins led off with a solo homer to tie the score at 1-1, his 10th home run of the season.
Bart tied a career high with four hits, going 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Johnson went 3-for-5 with a run scored.
Sean Hjelle (Win, 1-2) worked 5.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. He set a career high with four walks in the game.
The game was delayed in the top of the second inning for 17 minutes due to a power outage.
The Flying Squirrels and SeaWolves play the second game of the series on Tuesday night. LHP Caleb Baragar (3-5, 3.60) will start for Richmond. Erie has not announced a starting pitcher for the game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at UPMC Park.
Following an eight-game road trip, the Flying Squirrels return to The Diamond on Friday, August 30, to begin the final homestand of the season, featuring four games against the Bowie Baysox. For tickets or more information, call 804-359-3866 (FUNN), visit SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets or stop by the Flying Squirrels box office.
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